Devastated

How to spell devastated

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce devastated

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does devastated mean?

1. adjectiveOverwhelmed by grief, shock, or distress.
2. verbDestroyed or ruined something thoroughly (past tense of devastate).

Devastated in a sentence

• adjective

  She was devastated to learn that the company was closing her branch.

• verb

  The flood devastated hundreds of homes along the river.

• adjective

  The whole family felt devastated when the trip was cancelled at the last minute.

• verb

  The fire devastated the entire warehouse before crews arrived.

Where does devastated come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb devastare, which meant 'to lay waste completely' or 'to ravage'. It was built from the intensifying prefix de-, here carrying the force of 'thoroughly', and vastare, 'to lay waste', a verb formed in turn on the adjective vastus, meaning 'empty', 'desolate', or 'immense'. That same vastus root gives us the everyday word 'vast', so a place that is devastated has literally been reduced to an empty waste. The verb arrived in English around the early 1600s, initially describing the physical ruin of land, towns, and crops by war or natural disaster. Over time it softened into the familiar modern figurative sense of being emotionally crushed. The single s and the doubled nothing else, plus the -ate ending, are the spots writers most often second-guess.

How the word is built

• de- (completely)
• vast (root of Latin vastare: to lay waste)
• -ate (verb suffix)
• -ed (past participle)